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Season 1
Season 1 of True Blood premiered on 7 September 2008 on HBO. Loosely based on the book Dead Until Dark by American author Charlaine Harris, the first book in The Southern Vampire Mysteries. Season overview The main mystery of season 1 concerns the murders of women connected to Sookie's brother, Jason (Ryan Kwanten). Maudette Pickens, Dawn Green and Amy Burley are all strangled shortly after having been alone with Jason. Though Detective Bellefleur has little doubt that Jason is the killer, the town sheriff does not suspect him. Jason and Sookie's grandmother is murdered shortly afterward. At the end of the season, it is revealed that Arlene Fowler's fiancé, René Lenier, is actually a guy named Drew Marshall who created a fake identity with Cajun accent and all. He has been killing women he considers "Fangbangers". The first season also focuses on Sookie's relationship with Bill and Sam's relationship with Sookie's friend Tara Thornton. Bill explains the rules of being a vampire to Sookie and, after he finds himself killing a vampire to defend Sookie, he is forced to turn a young girl, Jessica Hamby, as punishment. In the last episode of the season, this new vampire is left with Bill under his care. After Maudette and Dawn's murders, Jason becomes addicted to vampire blood and has a short relationship with another addict, Amy, which ends when she is murdered by Drew. At the end of season one, Jason gets clean and joins the anti-vampire movement Fellowship of the Sun. Episodes Cast Starring * Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse (12 episodes) * Stephen Moyer as Bill Compton (12 episodes) * Sam Trammell as Sam Merlotte (12 episodes) * Ryan Kwanten as Jason Stackhouse (12 episodes) * Rutina Wesley as Tara Thornton (12 episodes) * Nelsan Ellis as Lafayette Reynolds (12 episodes) * Chris Bauer as Detective Andy Bellefleur (11 episodes) * Michael Raymond-James as René Lenier (11 episodes) * Carrie Preston as Arlene Fowler Bellefleur (10 episodes) * Jim Parrack as Hoyt Fortenberry (9 episodes) * Adina Porter as Lettie Mae Thornton (9 episodes) * William Sanderson as Bud Dearborne (9 episodes) * Alexander Skarsgård as Eric Northman (7 episodes) * Lois Smith as Adele Hale Stackhouse (7 episodes) * Lizzy Caplan as Amy Burley (6 episodes) * Lynn Collins as Dawn Green (5 episodes) * Stephen Root as Eddie Gauthier (3 episodes) Special guest starring *Danielle Sapia as Maudette Pickens (3 episodes) *Karina Logue as Denise Rattray (2 episodes) *James Jean Parks as Mack Rattray (2 episodes) *Željko Ivanek as The Magister (1 episode) *Mariana Klaveno as Lorena Krasiki (1 episode) Guest starring *Todd Lowe as Terry Bellefleur (8 episodes) *Kristin Bauer van Straten as Pam Swynford De Beaufort (7 episodes) *John Billingsley as Mike Spencer (4 episodes) *Alec Gray as Coby Fowler (4 episodes) *Dale Raoul as Maxine Fortenberry (4 episodes) *Laurel Weber as Lisa Fowler (4 episodes) *Aisha Hinds as Miss Jeanette (4 episodes) *Graham Shiels as Liam (4 episodes) *Raoul Trujillo as Longshadow (4 episodes) *Jeremy Denzlinger as Wayne (3 episodes) *Andrew Rothenberg as Malcolm (3 episodes) *Aunjanue Ellis as Diane (3 episodes) *Kanin Howell as Chuck (3 episodes) *Jessica Tuck as Nan Flanagan (3 episodes) *Caleb Moody as Royce Williams (3 episodes) *Michelle Forbes as Maryann Forrester (3 episodes) *Deborah Ann Woll as Jessica Hamby (3 episodes) *Avion Baker as Young Tara Thornton (2 episodes) *Tara Buck as Ginger (2 episodes) *Patrick Gallagher as Chow (2 episodes) *Kevin McHale as Neil Jones (2 episodes) *Labon Hester as Young Jason Stackhouse (2 episodes) *Zenali Turner as Young Sookie Stackhouse (2 episodes) *Cheyenne Wilbur as Bartlett Hale (2 episodes) *Patricia Bethune as Jane Bodehouse (1 episode) *Martin Spanjers as Young Sam Merlotte (1 episode) *Tanya Wright as Deputy Kenya Jones (1 episode) Differences between the book and the television series Season 1 of True Blood is loosely based on the book Dead Until Dark by American author Charlaine Harris, the first book in The Southern Vampire Mysteries. However, the TV show differs from the book in many ways. For one thing, the book is chick literature with romance, mystery and fantasy elements thrown in. The TV show reaches out to a more universal adult audience. In the book, Sookie Stackhouse is the sole protagonist. The television series has five main protagonists: Sookie Stackhouse, Jason Stackhouse, Sam Merlotte, Bill Compton and Tara Thornton. Below are some of the major changes between Season 1 of True Blood and Dead Until Dark. *The pilot episode of the TV show shows a young frat boy and his girlfriend enter the Grabbit Kwik store in Bon Temps looking for Tru Blood. The shop assistant tricks them into thinking he's a vampire and laughs about it when they fall for his joke. However, the couple and the shop assistant are unaware that a vampire is actually in the store. He extracts his fangs, threatens to kill them if they make fun of vampires again, pays for his Tru Blood and leaves the store with a cheery "Have a good day!" No such event occurs in the book. This scene was added to the TV show as an introduction to television viewers on the premise of the series. *In the books, Tara Thornton doesn't appear until the second novel in The Southern Vampire Mysteries, Living Dead in Dallas. In Season 1 of the TV show, however, she is a major character. Lafayette Reynolds is also a major recurring character while he only had a minor role in the first book. *Many of the characters in the TV show differ greatly from their counterparts in the books, both in physical appearance and personality. In the book; Sookie and Jason Stackhouse have blue eyes, Sam Merlotte has strawberry blond hair and in later books, Tara is a sophisticated, fashionable, mild mannered Caucasian. In the TV show, Sookie and Jason have brown eyes, Sam has grey hair and Tara is a brash, brutally honest, temperamental African-American. Also Lafayette in the book is very feminine, he is also feminine in the television series but is quite tough and fearsome alongside that, a quality not displayed in the book. Maxine Fortenberry is also nosy and uncaring on TV whereas in the book she appears to be a more gracious woman while her son Hoyt appears to be a more caring sweeter person on TV than he is in the book. Bill is also a warmer person on TV than he is in the book. *In the book, Sookie appears to have very few friends apart from Bill, Sam, Lafayette and Arlene. In the TV show, Sookie has been close friends with Tara Thornton since she was six years old. In later books, Sookie and Tara were revealed to be best friends during high school but have tended to fall out of touch from time to time ever since. In the TV show, Sookie also has a closer relationship with Lafayette and Arlene. She is also on friendly terms with Dawn while in the books it is stated that Sookie and Dawn never got on well. *In the book, Bubba the vampire is sent by Bill to look after Sookie while he attends business. In the TV show, Bubba doesn't appear and Bill asks Sam to guard her while he's away instead. *In the book Hep D never appeared, Instead it was called Sino Aids which is a disease undetected by modern healthcare and can leave vampires helpless. See also * True Blood - Season 1 DVD